Alba: Ash Regan says she has 'no current concerns' about Alex Salmond's behaviour towards women

The Edinburgh Eastern MSP says she only made the decision to defect from the SNP and join the Alba Party last week

Edinburgh Eastern MSP Ash Regan says she doesn’t have any concerns about the behaviour of former first minister Alex Salmond towards women, after defecting from the SNP to join his Alba party.

Ms Regan announced her defection over the weekend, saying the SNP had “lost its focus on independence”.

And South Ayrshire councillor Chris Cullen yesterday announced he was also defecting to Alba, meaning the party is now represented in Westminster, Holyrood and local government, despite having never won an election.

Ash Regan. Image: Lisa Ferguson/National World.

Ms Regan said she does npt know Mr Salmond “very well”, despite him giving her advice during the SNP leadership contest. She said she would not have joined his party if she had any concerns about his behaviour.

Last year Ms Regan resigned from the Government in protest over the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which aimed to make it easier for trans people to legally change their gender. At the time she said she was standing up for the safety of women and girls.

The Scotsman asked Ms Regan to justify this claim while also joining a party led by Mr Salmond.

In 2018, two female civil servants made formal complaints against Mr Salmond, accusing the former first minister of historical sexual misconduct – claims he has strenuously denied. Mr Salmond’s defence lawyer, Gordon Jackson QC, also labelled him a “sex pest” and a bully.

Edinburgh Eastern MSP Ash Regan says she could no longer fulfil her pro-independence mandate as part of the SNP. Picture: Lisa Ferguson.

The former first minister was acquitted of sexual offence charges following a high-profile trail in March 2020.

Ms Regan told The Scotsman: “I don’t have any current concerns. [Alex Salmond] hasn’t been in the SNP for quite some time, and as I said I don’t know him very well. But I’m a feminist and I wouldn’t join the party if I had any concerns of that nature.”

The MSP said she only made the decision to defect to Alba last week, adding: “A lot of people think I had an ongoing plan to do this for some time, but that’s absolutely not the case.

“I have only spoken to Alex Salmond a couple of times, once in 2015 when I bumped into him while I was a candidate, and then I didn’t speak to him again until the SNP leadership contest. I was upfront about that, and he was kind enough to give me his time and advice.

Ash Regan MSP poses next to Neale Hanvey MP and Kenny MacAskill MP after defecting from the SNP and joining the Alba Party. Image: Lisa Ferguson/National World.

“I had no plans to do that at any time, until last week when I made the decision.”

Ms Regan stood against Humza Yousaf and Kate Forbes to be SNP leader earlier this year, where she won 11 per cent of the vote.

When asked if she would still have left the SNP had Ms Forbes won the contest instead, Ms Regan said: “There’s no way to tell that unfortunately, I couldn’t say. I went into the leadership contest because I genuinely felt the fundamentalist wing of the party needed to be represented.

“Kate’s views on independence might be quite similar to Humza’s actually.”

Her decision to join Alba was branded as “no great loss” to the SNP by Mr Yousaf, and she was urged to resign and trigger a by-election in her Edinburgh Eastern constituency.

However, Ms Regan has defended her decision to not step down, saying: “I stood on a pro-independence platform and the reason people voted for me was because they were voting for independence.

“I feel I’m the one who is staying true to that election pledge of pursuing and achieving independence, and I will continue to work really hard for my constituents. As a pro-independence politician, I feel I best serve my constituents by being in the Alba party.”

Ms Regan said she didn’t attend the SNP conference in Aberdeen a fortnight ago and therefore did not bring forward her own ideas for an independence strategy because it was “obvious” what direction the party was going in.